Beyond the Supersquare explores the indelible influence of Latin American and Caribbean modernist architecture on contemporary art. The exhibition features over 30 artists and more than 60 artworks, including photography, video, sculpture, installation, and drawing, that respond to major Modernist architectural projects constructed in Latin America and the Caribbean from the 1920s through the 1960s. Beyond the Supersquare examines the complicated legacies of modernism through architecture and thought—as embodied by the political, economic, environmental, and social challenges faced by countries throughout Latin America—through the unique perspective of artists working today. This exhibition is co-organized by Holly Block (New York City) and María Inés Rodríguez (Colombia), and designed by Benedeta Monteverde (Mexico).

María Inés Rodríguez is the Director of CAPC Contemporary Art Museum Bordeaux. Her previous positions include chief curator at MUAC (Museo Universitario Arte Contemporáneo) in Mexico City, and at MUSAC (Museo de Arte Contemporáneo de Castilla y León), Spain, where she was also director of the collection Arte y Arquitectura, as well as guest curator of the Satellite Program at Jeu de Paume, Paris. Currently, she lives and works in Bordeaux.

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Beyond the Supersquare is made possible with major funding from The Andy Warhol Foundation for the Visual Arts, with additional support from Acción Cultural Española; Calouste Gulbenkian Foundation; Embassy of Colombia; The Consulate General of Colombia/New York; The Evelyn Toll Family Foundation; Fundación Jumex Arte Contemporáneo; Furthermore: a program of the J. M. Kaplan Fund; Graham Foundation for Advanced Studies in the Fine Arts; Agnes Gund; Toby Devan Lewis; The National Endowment for the Arts; The O’Grady Foundation; Sciame Construction; and The Venezuelan American Endowment for the Arts. Special thanks to Aeroméxico; The Architect’s Newspaper; Walter Puryear and the Andrew Freedman Home of the Mid-Bronx Senior Citizens Council; The Sherwin Williams Company/Manhattan; and Galia Solomonoff.

Alessandro Balteo Yazbeck
In collaboration with Media FarzinMobile for the Hotel Ávila and The Larger Picture, 1939-1942
From the series Modern Entanglements, U.S. Interventions, 2006-2009
Courtesy of the artist and Henrique Faria Fine Art, New York

Even Utopian Citizens Like to Leave the House: ‘Beyond the Supersquare’ Looks at South American Modernism

July 24, 2014

Describing the show as “a subtle and elusive think-piece of an exhibition,” Holland Cotter also highlights SuperPuesto, which he notes as giving an architectural image “practical use.” He writes that the structure comes to life “when people are added, filling it, changing it, making it their own until it disappears in the fall.”

Contributor Carolina A. Miranda featured the Bronx Museum and its exhibition Beyond the Supersquare in a story on U.S. Museums and Latin American Art. Highlighting the Bronx Museum among some of the most notable institutions across the country—including Getty, MoMA, LACMA, L.A. MOCA, and the New Museum—Miranda noted the Bronx Museum as one of the leaders of this trend with its exhibition Beyond the Supersquare.

Contributor Francesco Zuddas highlights the exhibition’s connection to the Bronx Museum’s 2011 Beyond the Supersquare Conference as well as the “well-curated” exhibition’s exploration of “two crucial issues:” “the legacy in terms of artistic practice,” and “the observation of the contemporary South-American city.”